BATON ROUGE – The 14th-ranked LSU Tigers have followed up their runner-up finish at the SEC Men’s Golf Championships by earning a No. 3 seed in NCAA Regional play as they were selected on Monday morning among the 14-team field to play at the NCAA Columbia Regional being held May 15-17 at The Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia, Missouri.
The fields for each of the six NCAA Regional Championships to be held next week were announced on Monday morning during the Golf Channel’s Morning Drive show from 9-10 a.m. CT.
Each of the 14 teams in the field at the NCAA Columbia Regional will be competing for five qualifying spots into the 2014 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships that will be held May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., and hosted by Wichita State University.
This marks the seventh-straight season in which the Tigers will compete in NCAA Regional play, which includes recent selections to the 2008 NCAA West Regional, 2009 NCAA South Central Regional, 2010 NCAA Central Regional, 2011 NCAA Blacksburg Regional, 2012 NCAA Palo Alto Regional and 2013 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional a season ago.
The Tigers hosted a NCAA Regional Championship for the first time in program history a season ago when they advanced to the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships for the third time in four seasons with a third-place finish in the event held at the University Club in Baton Rouge. They hope to qualify for the NCAA Championships for the fourth time in five seasons next week when they tee it up in Columbia, Missouri.
“We are looking forward to this time of the season,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead of his team’s NCAA Regional selection for the seventh-straight season. “It’s always full of lots of optimism and challenge. Every regional has its own set of challenges. I know our guys will look to continue to work on getting better and the challenge of success at this time of the season.”
While the Tigers have earned the No. 3 seed at the NCAA Columbia (Mo.) Regional, they will be joined by a strong field that includes No. 1 seed and second-ranked Oklahoma State, No. 2 seed 11th-ranked Virginia, No. 4 seed and 24th-ranked Arkansas and No. 5 seed 26th-ranked Arizona State. Also in their regional field are No. 6 seed Iowa, No. 7 seed San Diego State, No. 8 seed and tournament host Missouri, No. 9 seed Iowa State, No. 10 seed Middle Tennessee State, No. 11 seed Ohio State, No. 12 seed Denver, No. 13 seed Loyola (Md.) and No. 14 seed Bryant.
Six NCAA Regionals will be played across the country as teams will look to finish in the Top 5 of the final team standings to make up the 30-team field at the 2014 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships.
While the Tigers will compete as part of the NCAA Columbia Regional held at The Club at Old Hawthorne, the Auburn University Club (Auburn, Alabama), Lonnie Poole Golf Course (Raleigh, North Carolina), Rich Harvest Farms (Sugar Grove, Illinois), Briggs Ranch Golf Club (San Antonio, Texas) and Eugene Country Club (Eugene, Oregon) will also serve as 2014 NCAA Regional host sites in just 10 days.
LSU is certainly hitting its peak at the right time of the season as they followed their victory at Texas A&M’s Aggie Invitational in their regular-season finale with their best finish at the SEC Championships since 1989 with a second-place finish after firing an 18-under par 822 at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course, including a school-record round of 17-under par 263 in the final round.
2014 NCAA MEN’S GOLF REGIONAL SELECTIONS
Note: NCAA Regional fields below are listed in order announced on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive
NCAA San Antonio Regional
Briggs Ranch Golf Club – San Antonio, Texas
1. Georgia
2. Central Florida
3. UCLA
4. Vanderbilt
5. South Florida
6. SMU
7. Georgia Southern
8. Georgia State
9. TCU
10. Northwestern
11. College of Charleston
12. VCU
13. Columbia
NCAA Raleigh Regional
Lonnie Poole Golf Club – Raleigh, North Carolina
1. Georgia Tech
2. Washington
3. Florida State
4. Texas A&M
5. Mercer
6. Kentucky
7. Texas Tech
8. Wake Forest
9. South Alabama
10. Memphis
11. Minnesota
12. Rice
13. Bethune-Cookman
NCAA Auburn Regional
Auburn University Club – Auburn, Alabama
1. Alabama
2. Virginia Tech
3. Texas
4. Auburn
5. New Mexico
6. BYU
7. Kennesaw State
8. Colorado
9. Louisville
10. North Carolina
11. UC-Davis
12. Sam Houston State
13. St. John’s
14. Alabama State
NCAA Eugene Regional
Eugene Country Club – Eugene, Oregon
1. Stanford
2. Houston
3. Oklahoma
4. South Carolina
5. Baylor
6. Liberty
7. Oregon
8. Tennessee
9. North Florida
10. East Tennessee State
11. Tennessee-Chattanooga
12. Wichita State
13. Northern Colorado
NCAA Columbia Regional
The Club at Old Hawthorne – Columbia, Missouri
1. Oklahoma State
2. Virginia
3. LSU
4. Arkansas
5. Arizona State
6. Iowa
7. San Diego State
8. Missouri
9. Iowa State
10. Middle Tennessee State
11. Ohio State
12. Denver
13. Loyola (Md.)
14. Bryant
NCAA Sugar Grove Regional
Rich Harvest Farms – Sugar Grove, Illinois
1. California
2. Illinois
3. Southern California
4. UAB
5. UNLV
6. Clemson
7. Kent State
8. Purdue
9. Mississippi State
10. Cal St. Fullerton
11. New Mexico State
12. Jacksonville State
13. Cleveland State
14. Saint Peter’s